Promoting community engagement and activism in high school students

Abstract

Service learning has been shown to promote cultural and racial understanding and foster a sense of social responsibility amongst students. Additionally, social responsibility is an important facet of community engagement and vital to improving outcomes for marginalized and disenfranchised populations, such as unhoused individuals. Street Medicine Oakland (SMO), a student-run program that provides medical care to unhoused individuals, has partnered with Avondale High School to develop an educational series on homelessness in Oakland County. This project will provide opportunities for high school students to engage in discussions surrounding homelessness in Oakland County and participate in service with medical student leaders from the SMO organization.